Politico reports:
A likely primary opponent of Lindsey Graham wants the South Carolina Republican senator to join John McCain in apologizing for criticizing Rand Paul’s filibuster.Yeah, Public Policy Polling says Graham has a 66% approval rating among South Carolina Republicans -- but when you ask them whether they'd support him against "someone more conservative," his support slips to 51% (against 40% for the unnamed conservative and 9% unsure). So I think he's vulnerable.
State Sen. Lee Bright said he is "leaning heavily toward" making a formal announcement of his candidacy not long after the April 2 runoff for the House race to succeed Tim Scott. He is interviewing paid staff. And he's counting on those who, like him, supported Ron Paul in last year's South Carolina primary to give him a base of support....
"He deliberately went out there and cut out the legs out from under a new senator who was trying to lead," Bright told POLITICO late Saturday at the Conservative Political Action Conference. "Maybe, there was some kind of guilty conscience, the fact that he hasn't led in the right direction. Maybe that's why he did that. But it was unacceptable."
...Graham, who appeared at the conservative confab on Thursday, remains the solid favorite to survive a primary. He has more than $6 million cash on hand and remains pretty popular....
Bright introduced a bill in 2010 that would exempt firearms made in South Carolina from federal gun laws -- and then reintroduced it after the Sandy Hook massacre. He wants to exempt virtually all adult residents of the state from new federal gun laws because these people are deemed to be members of a state militia:
... a quartet of tea-party state senators in South Carolina introduced a bill Wednesday claiming to offer pro-gun citizens a different way around the federal rules: exempt the state's unorganized militia from federal gun regulations.Bright, who has been named a "Taxpayer Hero" by the Club for Growth, once introduced legislation to study the notion that South Carolina should create its own currency. He likes this sort of thing, and makes extremely funny jokes on the subject:
The unorganized militia consists of all able-bodied people over the age of 17 who are U.S. citizens residing in South Carolina and legally allowed to purchase a firearm, according to current state law....
The bill, sponsored by state Sens. Tom Corbin, Tom Davis, Kevin Bryant and Lee Bright, excludes members of the militia -- essentially all state citizens who are at least 18 years old -- from any federal gun rules passed after New Year’s Day....
During the 2010 session, Bright sponsored legislation passed by the state Senate that in addition to affirming South Carolina's Second-, Ninth- and 10th-amendment rights, also targeted federal health care legislation by saying state residents are not subject to any law that interferes with patients' rights to choose their own health care provider or pay for medical services directly.He invited people reading his campaign Web site to sign a fetal personhood pledge. He's on the board of directors of the Palmetto Family Council, which opposes "militant homosexual advocacy." Oh, and he was the South Carolina chairman of Michele Bachmann's presidential campaign.
"If at first you don't secede, try again," Bright said with a laugh after the legislation passed last year.
Lindsey, you may have met your match.
Limpseed Cornpone Grahamcrackers (R - Closet) is, believe it or not, too Liberal for todays South Carolina.
ReplyDeleteHe's not "Secesh" enough for them.
Not racist enough.
Not misogynistic enough.
Not Xenophobic enough.
And, it goes without saying, not nearly homophobic enough.
I will keep pointing this out until other dems pick it up and run with it - Article 1 Section 8 and Article 2 Section 2 explicitly state that militias are subordinate to congress and the president. The idea that right-wing states can ignore federal gun laws is just another item in a long list of stupid.
ReplyDeleteDid the Framers intended the militias to be subordinate to the federal government at times when they're not being used for the national defense? The way I read those sections, the answer is no. (But, of course, the entire notion that the militia's ultimate purpose is "the security of a free state" -- not the whims of people fighting the state -- is utterly lost on the gunners.
ReplyDeleteI agree, but I don't think they're really the militias at that point - they're just citizens. The guns are tools for the militia members for the time that they're needed; which, as you say, is when they're fighting for the country.
ReplyDeleteSenator Lee Bright will beat Graham in a landslide.
ReplyDeleteSenator Lee Bright packed four statewide hearings, standing room only, with avid dedicated pro gun followers of his legislation.
Senator Lee Brights bill in the Senate Sub Committee again was a packed house all in support of Senator Lee Bright and his legislation.
No one in South Carolina likes Graham. He doesn't stand a chance of reelection.
The churches hate Graham for his ObamaCare removing freedom of religion through government euthanasia, mercy killing, abortion and birth control.
The Tea Party hates Graham because he's an obvious RINO who's taking away our civil rights like Hitler.
The Conservative Republicans hate Graham because he keeps flooding the economy with fake money from foreign banks.
The workers hate Graham because he wants to legalize 11,000,000 known criminals to take their jobs.
The only person that liked Graham was Nazi George Soros who no longer is supporting Graham but instead turned his minions into destroying Graham.